Anyone who has heard me talk about it, and especially those who are connected with me on LinkedIn, know that I am big fan of LinkedIn. I’m a fan for several reasons, not the least of which is because I think it’s clear that LinkedIn is a job seeker’s second best friend.

Any job seeker’s best friend is him or her self: nobody will ever be better positioned to advocate for why you are the best candidate for an opportunity. But as far as tools go for propagating your personal brand and your unique value proposition as a candidate, you cannot beat LinkedIn. And I say this for several reasons.

Networking

We know that networking is how 70% of positions are filled, courtesy of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS report. LinkedIn offers an incredible wealth of opportunities to network professionally, which empowers job seekers to get maximum return on investment (ROI) for staying in touch with professional contacts.

But far beyond merely keeping the lines of communication with existing connections, LinkedIn users can prospect new connections. In group discussions, job seekers can raise their visibility among thought leaders and prospective hiring managers. By adding value in this way, a job seeker can win mindshare from professional peers. I’ve received and sent invitations to connect from others solely on the basis of contributions to groups in which I am active.

Personal Branding

Although the networking opportunities in LinkedIn are of obvious relevance to a job seeker, the prospect of establishing and controlling one’s personal brand is less obvious—but potentially more important. A lot of people have been talking about personal branding in the past year: Google shows 7.8 million hits on that search phrase.

Personal branding is simple: it is a job seeker’s unique value proposition: a combination of experience, training, skills and aptitudes no one else has. Identifying your unique value proposition can be a challenge, but pays great dividends. It provides a theme for elevator speeches, LinkedIn summaries and any other content a candidate develops to raise his or her visibility. And the best way to leverage your unique value proposition on LinkedIn is to incorporate it in your LinkedIn headline.

The headline always appears with your name anytime your name appears on LinkedIn, a fantastic branding opportunity! I’ve seen a lot of profiles in the years I have used LinkedIn. Many job seekers have as their headline, “[industry/job function] professional”. But in a job market like this, the odds of someone having an identical headline are quite high—the very opposite of a unique value proposition.

Applications

LinkedIn offers a wealth of applications: pieces of software that each LinkedIn user can choose to incorporate into their profile. Several are of very broad utility: Box.net allows users to share electronic files with others connected with him or her. This is a superb place to house your market plan, so your connections are better empowered to act as advocates for you. This is a far better solution than sharing your résumé, which will almost necessarily be at odds with the experience listed in your profile if you are following the job search best practice of customizing your résumé for each position.

Other applications have a more targeted appeal: the SAP Community Bio and Creative Portfolio Display are only relevant to certain professionals—but for them, may be of considerable significance.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, investing the time to learn where LinkedIn empowers your job search most will help you stay focused on the big picture: landing your next opportunity.

Some years ago, due to films like Grosse Pointe Blank and Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, eighties music was enjoying a resurgence in popularity. My wife and I were leaving a music store and as we were leaving, two teens walked into the store in mid-conversation. Just before the doors closed behind them, we couldn’t help overhearing one exclaim to the other, “Cuz 80s music is, like, the best music evar!!!”

As a child of the 80s, my preferences in music sometimes revert to the music of my high school experiences. As the foregoing illustrates, some of it remains very catchy. But it’s hard to discuss one’s high school experiences without addressing the subject of what was on TV at the time.

One very popular show of the time was Moonlighting. The Cybill Shepherd/Bruce Willis vehicle that vaulted the latter into stardom was a favorite of mine. The show featured some of the snappiest dialogue on television when it premiered in 1985. Something I always appreciated as a writer was the quotable lines the cast delivered with impeccable timing. One quote that has stuck with me ever since was delivered by Bruce Willis: “Everyone’s perfect at something”.

Things have their intrinsic meanings and then the adding meanings brought by circumstances and whim. That’s the case here, too.

“Everyone’s perfect at something.” In your professional experience, I am willing to wager that was true of almost everyone you encountered. If I ask you who has the best PowerPoint skills, you probably can think of a name immediately. Who was it that could consistently un-jam the photocopier? When you couldn’t get Excel to do what you needed, wasn’t there someone you always turned to?

I’m assuming that the answers to those three questions are all different. So let me turn this around: if I asked all of those people what you were perfect at, what would they say?

Several groups, including the ETP Network, are big proponents of identifying a job seeker’s “unique value proposition”: the unique blend of skills, experience and aptitude that a candidate offers. And yes, it is unique: no one else has the same exact skills, experience and aptitudes you possess, in the same measures.

That is what you’re perfect at.

Once you have identified what you’re perfect at, it’s a matter of helping the recruiters and hiring managers who need you to find you. Everyone talks about networking as the biggest source of jobs (per the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70%). It is in this way that you are able to demonstrate why you are a great fit for the demands of an opportunity.

At the end of the day, a quote from Moonlighting might just help you stay focused on the big picture: landing your next opportunity.